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NHL season 1/2 way point (actually now 2/3 into the season)

Originally posted by NY_22_Nole:

Well that islander - ranger game certainly sucked!!!

I would not worry about the Bruins - it seems like they are going to get in and they are the only team in the East that I think the Islanders don't have a shot against....forwards are too big and I don't see any way that they keep a healthy Lucic from running all over them in a series.

Even as the 8 seed I would pick the Bruins to go to the cup over anyone else.
If the B's draw the Habs it's going to be tough. They own them. I but I actually think they are due they haven't beat the all year. Bruins just won a shootout that is a rarity.

Its ts the best part of the Cup any team can win.
 
Before tonight, the B's lost their last two shootouts, scoring only one SO goal in TWENTY attempts!

The B's were 0 for 12 against Edmonton and 1 for 8 against Calgary. Rask was brilliant, but 1/20 is absolutely disgusting and 0 for 12 in one shootout is even more than disgusting.

Shocking that both Bergeron and Marchand (he's been on fire) both hit INSIDE the net and TB did not even take their 3rd shot.

Boston is 3 and 7 in shootouts this year but it feels like they are 1 and 15.

Being so lethargic in the shootout, the B's inquired about acquiring TJ Oshie just before the deadline, but his salary and the fact that there isn't a shootout in the playoffs, the B's backed down.

Not sure why, but the B's have seemed to own Tampa Bay, much like MLB's Tampa Bay seems to own the Sox.

The B's are 7-2-1 in their last 10 and pounding the Blackhawks to end their road trip on a high note has got them playing well.

NY Rangers (66 GP), Montreal (68 GP) and Tampa (69 GP) all have 91 points, but the NYR have a few games in hand, so as of right now the Bruins would head to Madison Square garden for the first round. I hate the Rangers, but not as much as Montreal, so I am hoping that Montreal stays a step behind NY, and ideally, if the B's finish 8th, I'd like them to face off against Tampa in the first round.

If the B's remain the 8th, they could be dangerous of they keep playing the way they are right now. Can they win it all as the 8th ala the Kings of a few years back? I doubt it, but it is possible. Lucic and Seidenberg really need to step up their games if that is a possibility at all!
 
The Calgary shootout was very frustrating to watch. Waiting til the seventh round to but Bergeron out there had me shaking my head. Tonight Claude wasted no time Bergy and Marchand, 2 of the first 3 skaters and guess what you win.

Marchand is playing some of the best hockey of his career IMO. And Rask isn't far behind.

What a crazy end with all the penalties in OT. I have never seen what happened to Stamkos in my life.
 
3 on 3 in OT was great, heck, they should have pulled one of the refs........
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The Stamkos stick toss was odd, why did a 10 minute major have to happen with a minute left in OT and not 10 minutes left in the game?

I posted earlier that Boston just seems to own Tampa, and now I just read this from ESPN, I didn't realize that Boston has been that dominating against Tampa:


Boston beat Tampa Bay for the 10th straight time, the longest active slide for a Bruins opponent. Since joining the NHL in 1992, the Lightning have won only five times in 48 games at Boston.
The Lightning have also never beaten the Bruins after regulation in 18 tries, going 0-9-9. Tampa Bay failed to capitalize on a power play in overtime.

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 straight for the B's, and Tampa has only won 5 times, ever, in Boston! That is what Montreal did against the B's from roughly 1973 to about 1987.

Also, the OT goose egg is another crazy stat. In 18 friggin OT's (the puck never once bounced Tampa's way and the Bolts have been shutout in basically what is sudden death for 90 straight minutes-not really 90 as the B's ended the 5 minute OT early 9 times-, unreal).

I really, really want the B's to play Tampa in the first round now!!!!!
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This post was edited on 3/13 1:10 AM by Manch.
 
The Isles just extended Boychuk for 7 years at $42 million! Are you kidding me? All that cash for a 31 year old. Heck, Seidenberg is 33 and has lost more than a step.

The common factor in the Isles resurgence and the Bruins down slide could very well be Boychuk, but Boychuk is no Larry Robinson.
 
The Isles just extended Boychuk for 7 years at $42 million! Are you kidding me? All that cash for a 31 year old. Heck, Seidenberg is 33 and has lost more than a step.

The common factor in the Isles resurgence and the Bruins down slide could very well be Boychuk, but Boychuk is no Larry Robinson.
 
NoleHitter: Ahhhh how I love to hear Ranger fan's rag on Potvin....I can still see Hedberg crumpling in the corner like a little girl who had her puppy stolen!!!

Hell, it's not like Potvin was only about the 3rd best defenseman in the history of the league....he's certainly no Barry Beck!!!!

I hope to see the islanders play the rangers in the playoffs, but I am afraid the rangers are far too soft to make it out of the first round!!!
 
Re: NHL season 1/2 way point

Originally posted by nolealum99:
Originally posted by JacksonvilleBlue904:
99,

You may want to see about selling your tickets vs the Blackhawks. 300s are selling for around $120 each. You may get close to $300each for yours.which would make a nice little down payment for next season I'm sure.

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I should have asked for more. I put them on yesterday and they sold for $225 each in 2 1/2 hours. Dallas tickets even went for $120 each. These weekend games are starting to be an extremely hot ticket.
Yep can definitely agree on that . Just took a peak on stubhub now and cheapest ticket there is $37 for tonight's game against the Jets.
 
Re: NHL season 1/2 way point

I think that stick toss errantly into the stands is first time Ive ever seen it happen in a game. But Stamkos seems to always have a stick at least break once a game it seems though.
 
Boston beat Tampa Bay for the 10th straight time, the longest active slide for a Bruins opponent. Since joining the NHL in 1992, the Lightning have won only five times in 48 games at Boston.

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It's funny you said that I was listening to Felger and Mazz and they mentioned some of the stats Friday. TB has only won 5 times all time in Boston. It's really unbelievable.
 
Re: NHL season 1/2 way point


Originally posted by JacksonvilleBlue904:
I think that stick toss errantly into the stands is first time Ive ever seen it happen in a game. But Stamkos seems to always have a stick at least break once a game it seems though.
Those Fiberglas shafts just shatter all the time. My Sher-Wood Paul Coffee curve never broke like that.
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Originally posted by timbo37059:
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It's funny you said that I was listening to Felger and Mazz and they mentioned some of the stats Friday. TB has only won 5 times all time in Boston. It's really unbelievable.
That's funny, I usually listen to those dolts every day, especially on agenda free Friday, but I just got so sick and tired of the new Patriots Vice President (Felger) and the new Patriots GM (Assarotti) just dump on the Pats and the Pats fans because Revis went to the Jets, so I tuned them out on Friday, and I'm not even a Pats fan. I hope cam Neely just gets up and thumb squashes Mazzarotti.

Timbo, what do you think of the new 3rd wheel, Jim Murray? I miss the voice of reason, Beetle, but I try to tune into his show with Scott Zolak.

Those two are just brutal, and to this day, Massarotti still calls the 2013 Red Sox a sham.

The 5 wins in 48 games is just unbelievable, the only thing that I can think of that is better is UNC's home dominance over Clemson in hoops, as the Tar Heels own a 57-0 edge over Clemson in Chapel Hill.

Edmonton has just recently broke a 13 game losing streak to the Bruins, dating back to 2001.
 
Manch,

One thing about Felger and Mazz is its all business with them. They are a ratings driven show to keep the pedal to metal. Felger learned some hard lessons before the Sports Hub, fired at WEEI and ESPN Boston. That's why he doesn't like callers with small talk. He has no local affiliation except he likes the Bruins, he likes them and that was the stations niche when it first started. Everything in the show is planned and calculated which can get kind of annoying. I like the wing it style of Gresh and Zo. I like Murray, he was there before and does a good job. The week after the colts game I couldn't listen to them bash the organization without know anything about whatever what going on with the deflated footballs. I like Beetle and Zo but it will take time to develop the chemistry of Gresh and Zo. I like the football insight, knowledge and laid back approach, Josie turned into a great thing. I moved to San Antonio about a year ago and still listen on my phone a lot. T and R is a great show as well, I used to be a Hillman guy but they converted me as well.


Great game going on now between the Caps and B's.
 
I know that F and M is staged, there is no possible way, that the day after winning the Super Bowl or World Series that these guys can come up with so much material to slam the home team. It is all about ratings, and if they don't stir the hornets nest, the calls stop, the advertising drops with the ratings and the next two assholes come in.

If you listen long enough, you can virtually hear these guys flip-flop right in the air. They almost never get an athlete to call in to the show because they have burned so many bridges. When an athlete calls in, they don't want to be destroyed on the air for a fumble or error that happened in 1996, and Felger and Mazz probably won't kiss anyone's ass, especially Felger, especially after he has probably torn them apart previously on the air. Not having an athlete call in is almost unheard of in sports radio, and that shows how many bridges they have napalmed.

When they can't fire bomb and athlete or front office personal, they start in on the fans. Last year Mazz killed the Sox fans for giving a rookie Cubs pitcher a standing O after he pitched 7+ innings of no hit ball. Mazz called the fans soft and I think this game was in August, and one called asked Mazz how many games he had been to last year and Mazz replied "zero". Unbelievable.
 
Originally posted by NY_22_Nole:

NoleHitter: Ahhhh how I love to hear Ranger fan's rag on Potvin....I can still see Hedberg crumpling in the corner like a little girl who had her puppy stolen!!!

Hell, it's not like Potvin was only about the 3rd best defenseman in the history of the league....he's certainly no Barry Beck!!!!

I hope to see the islanders play the rangers in the playoffs, but I am afraid the rangers are far too soft to make it out of the first round!!!
You mean Nilsson, not Hedberg

Luckily, after hearing "1940!" for decades, that one has ended. But you'll always be stuck with "Potvin sucks." ;-)

This post cracked me up. I have an old program with Barry Beck's (and a bunch of other players) autograph! lol

Potvin the 3rd best defenseman in the history of the league? Arguably, but I'd take Orr, Borque, Coffey, Lidstrom, and I'll throw in some Leetch to piss you off. ;-) That's not couting guys like Harvey who I didn't see play myself.

Rangers are playing like I've never seen them play before. They're finding ways to wins a lot of games they shouldn't win. Completely shocked at how this season, especially the last 6 weeks, has played out.


By the way, when was the last time the Isles made it out of the first round? ;-)
This post was edited on 3/16 12:22 PM by NoleHitterThru8
 
Nolehitter - I stand corrected on nilson/hedberg.
I can live with "potvin sucks" - it never bothered me and only shows true ignorance of anyone that actually believes he sucked. Barry Beck: he was pretty good - I actually was going to list Reijo Routsalainen but was unsure of the spelling! I will list best defenseman as: Doug Harvey (like you I never saw him play - my dad said he was better than Orr and is really the first defenseman to get involved offensively), Orr then Potvin. Borque I would have right behind Potvin and cannot honestly say Potvin was much better - I loved watching Borque and was very happy to see him hoist the cup - nice move by the Bruins to let him go at the end and give him a shot at the cup. I would list Scott Stevens above Lidstrom - Stevens is the best stay at home defenseman I have ever seen - Lidstrom was no slouch, but he did not have the physical play to be in the conversation as best ever. You did not piss me off at all with Leetch - he and Richter are my 2 favorite Rangers all time - I honestly cannot think of any other I have really liked. Leetch however would not be in the best ever discussion as he was not the most physical.

Coffey however is an entirely different story - he certainly changed the game - look at how many small defenseman play the game presently - and most of them cannot play defense - the Islander's Vishnovsky is the perfect example. They refer to him as a power play specialist - this means he is lost in his own zone and is too much of a puss to take the body.

Coffey was benched in playoff overtime when he played under Scotty Bowman because of his defensive shortcomings.

The Rangers (as much as I hate to admit it...) look better to me than last year's team - I thought they were a little smaller than last year, and I thought last year there lack of size was exposed in the finals. But they just keep winning - time will tell.

My bro is a big time Ranger fan and he is also convinced they are going to get pushed around in the playoffs - we will see soon enough...

Islanders made it to the conference finals in 93 and lost to the Canadiens who ended up winning that year.
 
I doubt you'd find any knowledgeable Ranger fan who thinks Potvin sucked as a player. It's about him sucking as a person.
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Halak out for a week. He needs a rest regardless.

Was just reading a story about why and where Stamkos should go....ouch - I hope Tampa can extend him and keep him off the market - he is incredibly talented and I wish he was on my team from the first time I watched him. Would really suck to lose him to someone like the Rangers or Kings (the 2 top favorites per this article I was referring to) because the franchise may not be able to pay him.
 
Damn looks like Stevie Y is about to clean house. Should be interesting to see what they do.
 
They will be fine. Stamkos will get paid and he will stay in Tampa. There is money to be had if you really look at all those numbers.

The one that I find hilarious that was mentioned above is Ohlund. Guy hasn't played since Oct 2011. I am sure he is on LTIR, but I am still not sure how that affects cap space. I still have not figured out why he has not retired since he literally cannot skate and won't be able to do so.
 
The last two weeks are going to be crazy!!! There are playoff implications with almost every game. After tonight the reigning champs are on the outside looking in and the Bruins are on the outside as well. Not only are the races at the bottom, but at the tops as well. Divisions are still up in the air as well. The Ducks and probably Rangers have theirs locked up, but the other two divisions are definitely not decided. The Atlantic is more than likely between the Bolts and the Habs, but the central could be had by any of the three teams. Hold on tight!!!
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Bruins should tank they have the same odds of the first pick as winning the cup. Been snake bitten with injuries all year. Ottawa is smoking hot right now, that goalie is blazing but can they sustain it all the way to the cup.

This is one of the most exciting years as far as playoff races I can remember.
 
Boston in a free fall and now lose Dougie Hamilton...ouch.

Not sure what Ottawa can sustain but Erik Karlsson is playing as well as anyone in the league at any position. He'll get 26-30 TOI and give others' top lines some trouble.

Rangers getting Lundqvist back and Anaheim dropping like a stone.

Playoffs basically start now.
 
I cannot wait for the playoffs....the Islanders need a fresh start - have not been putting the puck in the net. I just hope they get the poor play out of there collective systems in time for a playoff push...
 
Letang goes down with huge implications for the Pens. If he's not healthy for the playoffs, they are in such trouble. That injury would be a huge boost to the Islanders' chances.

One wouldn't expect Florida to catch to both Boston and Ottawa but the Panthers play each team once so anything could happen.

The west is crazy with 4 teams vying for 3 spots.
 
Finally got to watch some hockey last night - about 1/2 of the B's and Wings' game. Terrific action with Boston somehow pulling it out.

Detroit's power play is excellent. Not sure who will play in net for them in the playoffs but they could be dangerous.
 
Originally posted by timbo37059:
Bruins should tank they have the same odds of the first pick as winning the cup. Been snake bitten with injuries all year. Ottawa is smoking hot right now, that goalie is blazing but can they sustain it all the way to the cup.

This is one of the most exciting years as far as playoff races I can remember.
They are on a roll right now and could possibly pass Detroit for 7th, and of course that would land them Montreal?

I like Boston's possible first round match up against the Rangers.
 
Rangers have a ton of speed at forward which Julien's system could help neutralize. Rangers D is okay but not a ton of 2-way threats, which seem to give Boston fits.

Boston doesn't match up as well with Montreal because they can't handle Subban or seem snake-bit trying to score on Price.

Tampa seems to possibly be fading a bit? Sens still alive for the 8th spot.
 
The Islanders had better learn to step up and defend Tavares at ALL COSTS. He is going to get murdered in the playoffs and any opponent that does not try to knock him out of every game deserves to lose.

Last night he was cross checked from behind - I don't care about playoff positioning (they are going to get in...), score of the game or anything else. When your biggest star gets abused night in and night out something needs to be done about it. I have wanted to see Matt Martin on a line with Tavares since the all star break.
 
Tuukka played very well last night.

Good to see Soderberg and Eriksson get on the board.

The Rangers do have great speed, but they don't scare me over a 7 game series. Montreal just owns the Bruins and is completely inside the Bruins head. It's history I'm not sure this team has the mental toughness to get by them.

How about the playoff races this year, I can not remember closer standings for the last week of the regular season.
 
This is going to be a very interesting week. All with 95, the Bruins, Penguins, and Wings are shuffling places. Right now the Penguins and Wings are now the wild card teams and Ottawa is right on their heels. Should be really intriguing to see who is left out. The remaining schedules of the teams in contention are:

Bruins - @ Caps, @ Panthers, @ Bolts
Penguins - @Ottawa, Isles, @Buffalo
Wings - Carolina, @ Montreal, @ Carolina
Ottawa - Penguins, @ Rangers, @ Flyers

I don't really know who will make it out of this alive. None of these teams has a super easy road. I would say the Wings probably have the easiest as they get Carolina twice. Will be fun to watch.
 
Good analysis.

The Caps are white hot right now, making Boston's road a bit rocky. Detroit has the easiest path and should be one of the teams in.

Pittsburgh is in the worst spot: no Letang (with no timetable), Malkin as always on iffy health, and Ehrhoff banged up. By worst spot, I don't mean just for making the playoffs but to actually do anything in them. Losing your best D and your 3rd or 4th D-man is no joke.
 
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